Memorandum, July 30, 1981 - a memo from the CDC
requesting NCI collaboration on studies of Kaposi's sarcoma and opportunistic
infections, “a problem of significant public health concern
and scientific importance.”

The AIDS Memorandum,
1983 - 1984 AIDS Memorandum was an informal NIAID newsletter of
fast-tracked, unpublished information that circulated among the
NIH scientists working on the disease.

The AIDS Memorandum was published in one volume of nine issues
between August 1983 and December 1984 by the National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Dr. Ruth Levy Guyer,
an immunologist on the staff of the NIAID Scientific Director,
was editor of the publication.

The AIDS Memorandum was modeled on other scientific memoranda that had helped
to “fast-track“ information on other puzzling diseases, leprosy and
hepatitis, and on developments in interferon research. Publication in peer
reviewed scientific journals meant considerable delay between the time of a
discovery and awareness by others in the field. The AIDS Memorandum, like the
other memoranda, printed non-peer reviewed material, preliminary data, negative
observations, single-case reports, and other types of material not usually
accepted in peer-reviewed publications.

Users of the AIDS Memorandum agreed to treat all material as privileged and
subject to change before submission to a refereed journal. Users also agreed
not to cite material without first obtaining the consent of the author(s) and
to share material in the Memorandum only with other individuals willing to
honor these ground rules.

By 1985, many peer reviewed journals recognized the AIDS epidemic as a crisis
and began expediting publication of AIDS articles. At that point, NIAID judged
that the AIDS Memorandum had served its purpose, and publication was discontinued.